Sad News – Denis Goldberg has died.

One of our first patrons, Denis gave me £1000 for the Centre I was setting up in the very early years twenty years ago, and I used it to buy our first furniture – chairs and tables for the art classes my daughter Tarot and I were running at the falling down building we were making into the Bethesda Arts Centre. 

Denis was a loyal friend, visiting the Centre three or four times over the years, hosting our group for memorable lunches at his home in Hout Bay, and arranging an exhibition of our work at the Hout Bay Gallery, where he bought an early tapestry of ours about the creation of the stars. 

Denis was an inspiration to our group at the Centre. For our group, a white man who had gone to prison for twenty-two years to fight for the freedom of black and brown people was astonishing, and made even more astonishing because of the way he welcomed us all into his home, not caring that we were mostly brown.  

The group thought of Denis as “Jeni’s friend who is also our friend.” He was much loved, and will be held in our hearts.

Jeni Couzyn